Vacant land is increasingly scarce in Pinellas County, forcing developers to make the best of what may be imperfect parcels.
Such is the case with the Grande Verandahs on the Bay, an 84-unit luxury condo development under construction on the St. Petersburg side of scruffy Gandy Boulevard.
Ads for the community's 3-bedroom, 3-bath units, which run from $319,900 to $499,900, focus on the positive: proximity both to downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg, "shimmering bay views" and "urban convenience," a reference to the complex's Gandy Boulevard egress. The main publicity photo features a stunning sunset view of the bay, framed by palm fronds.
What the photo doesn't show is the view from the development facing Gandy: a RaceTrac gas station located just a hub cap's toss away.
Oscar Blasingame, sales and marketing director for Ballast Point Group, said the St. Petersburg developer is taking steps to mitigate any concerns. That includes putting tall pines and other landscaping between the condos and the gas station, using fountains and a swimming pool waterfall to create white noise, and designing units so that master bedrooms face the waterfront. His staff has sold 35 condos so far.
Yet Blasingame declined to call the gas station view a problem. He said condo dwellers will naturally gaze beyond it to the Weedon Island nature preserve, and that Gandy Boulevard's honky tonk profile is slowly changing as developers build upscale housing on it.
"Anything that may be an eyesore now," he said, "will potentially be beautiful."
